There is known in the prior art, from German document No. DE 199 11 008, a wristwatch, shown in FIG. 1, with a circular watchcase 101, a circular bezel 102, and a glass, the latter being secured by the bezel. A dial 104 is located under the watch glass, held by a truncated flange 105, on which the hours from “1” to “12” are marked. At the centre of dial 104, there is an opening through which the four arbours carrying the hands pass, of which only outer arbour 106 is visible in the Figure. The arbours are connected to the watch movement, not shown, placed under dial 104. Each of the four arbours carries one of the four hands, hour hand 107, minute hand 108, second hand 109, and additional hand 110 rotating anticlockwise.
Bezel 102 is divided into 12 parts, in each of which there is an indication of one of the months. The indication for the month of January is placed between 11 and 12 o'clock; the indication for the month of February is placed between 10 and 11 o'clock, and so on until the December indication, which is placed between 12 o'clock and 1 o'clock.
Additional hand 110 is driven by the watch movement so as to complete one revolution of dial 104 in one year passing through 52 positions, which corresponds approximately to a displacement at a rate of one step per week.
On dial 104, the 17 dates corresponding to the 17 Grand Prix of the 1999 Formula One season are shown, as well as the countries in which the Grand Prix take place. The various indications concerning the countries are radially marked on the periphery of dial 104 facing dates, the indications relating to the dates being marked in spaces that are also shown on the periphery of the dial.
Thus, during the week in which a Grand Prix takes place, additional hand 110 indicates the country and the date. The user can thus check whether the date of the day corresponds to the date indicated and know whether the Grand Prix is taking place on the day in question, since the Formula One Grand Prix always takes place on a Sunday, the user can also check the day of the week. For this type of information, the indication given by additional hand 110, accurate to within a week, is thus just sufficient.
Since there is no Grand Prix from November to February, this sector of dial 104 is left blank in order to mark “Formula One 1999”.
Watchcase 101 includes a crown 111 arranged at 3 o'clock, particularly for setting the time, and a pushbutton 112 arranged at 2 o'clock, for setting additional hand 110 to the correct date.
A watch of this type has, however, several drawbacks. Indeed, it is important to note that the additional hand first of all provides a time indication, which corresponds to the markings concerning, for example, the place of the event. Consequently, the position of the additional hand depends solely upon the date, and more precisely of the week in progress. Thus, the additional hand may only indicate a single marking, for example a country, in a sure manner. It thus does neither allow indication of several simultaneous events, nor several indications of the same nature concerning an event taking place.
The idea that would consist in using several additional hands has no advantage, given that there is a direct correspondence between the position of the additional hand and the week in progress. Thus, in order to be able to indicate two events by means of two additional hands, it would be necessary form them to provide different time indications, which would make reading virtually impossible.
Moreover, it is also to be noted that the additional hand only indicates the coming of an event to within one week. The user is then obliged to compare the date indicated by the additional hand with that of the current day in order to check the actual coming of the event indicated. This being so, the user, if he wishes to know the start time of the indicated event in order to follow, for example, a live television broadcast, he has to know the start time of the event at the place in which he is located. This requires knowing the start time of the event in the country in which it is taking place and the place where the user is located. It is thus not very easy to be able to use this watch to obtain precise information as to the coming of an event.
Finally, such a watch can only be used for one Formula One season. Indeed, from year to the next, the dates change for each Grand Prix, and the calendar order can undergo some modifications, as well as the addition or omission of certain Grand Prix.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a timepiece that is capable of indicating a plurality of simultaneous events in a precise manner.
The electronic timepiece according to the invention is characterised in that it allows the aforementioned drawbacks to be overcome.